The Second Battle of Ghastly Gorge
by Phoxx Rain
Summary: Moon Shimmer and her brother Snow Flurry have differences beyond belief. But when Snow gets into a fight and Shimmer signs him up for the Royal Guard, no one would have guessed he'd be top of his group. Now all he has to do is prove himself to his sister, but with incoming attacks from Griffonia impressing Shimmer will have to wait.
1. Chapter 1

Moon Shimmer perused the shelves of the Canterlot library. She had been attending the funeral of her father. He had died only a week ago, defending the Princess from an assassination attempt. So she had come here looking for something that would take her mind off of the funeral. She had read some of the books already, having access to the Ponyville library, but of the thousands of books in Canterlot she had read only a small percentage.

Finally her eyes had alighted on a thick leather-bound tome with cursive letters written in golden ink. _Historic Battles and the Ponies That Led Them_.

_Hmm. _She thought, pulling the book off the shelf. _It would be interesting to know more about our military._

She thought back to the times her father had come home and told her and her brother Snow Flurry about the kind of drills they had to do, how many stallions were in his platoon that day, whether or not he had seen the princesses. Moon Shimmer had been enraptured by the prospect of being a royal guard, but Snow Flurry had dismissed the idea entirely. These thoughts brought back the pain inside her chest, like she was being squeezed into nothingness and she couldn't breathe.

She brought the book over to an empty table and sat down, opening it. Dust flew up from the pages making her cough, and she was instantly shushed by the old unicorn mare in charge of the library. Moon Shimmer silently apologized and returned her attention back to the book. The first page was of one of the many battles that took place against the Griffins. It read:

_By far the bloodiest battle to date, and the most recent, The Battle of Ghastly Gorge took over fifteen thousand lives, both Pegusi and Griffin alike. Fought in the air above the Gorge, most of the lives lost were of Pegusi and Griffins that hadn't been caught as they fell, wounded and crying out. Considered as a great loss, the battle was recorded as a win, with the Griffin army losses equaling over half of the number total. The Griffin army surrendered soon after and left for their homeland._

Shimmer closed her eyes. She could picture what the battle might have looked like to somepony on the ground. Falling bodies, pools of blood, panic, chaos. It was too much for her, and she opened her eyes. She skimmed the next page, but couldn't read anymore so she closed the book and looked up. She hadn't expected to see anypony standing in front of her, but was startled and nearly tripped over her hind legs as she scrambled away from the bright, sea foam green eyes in front of her.

"Summer Streak." Moon Shimmer whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Summer Streak was practically jumping up and down.

"You need to come with me." Summer whispered back. "Snow Flurry is about to get into a fight!"

"What?!" Moon Shimmer shouted. The old librarian shushed her again looking annoyed, but Shimmer wasn't listening. She was already on her way out of the library, Summer Streak on her heels. When Shimmer found her brother she was going to wring his neck.


	2. Chapter 2

Moon Shimmer and Summer Streak raced into the courtyard just as Snow Flurry was rearing back to strike at the armored guard in front of him. Moon Shimmer spread her wings and bolted across the distance, slamming her hooves down in front Snow Flurry, causing him to fall backwards in shock and the guard to step back. Shimmer turned her furious glare onto her brother as he was getting up. She advanced on him and he scrambled back, bumping into a wall.

"Wait! Before you say anything-" He started, but Shimmer's glare made him falter.

"How dare you. I can't believe you would disrespect a Royal Guard." She said quietly. It would have been better if she had shouted. "Especially today."

"But you don't understand-" He tried again, and again faltered.

"You're one hoof step closer to joining the Royal guard, Snow Flurry." Shimmer threatened. "If you put one more hoof out of line, and I'm signing you up."

"You wouldn't." Flurry said in disbelief.

"Try me." Shimmer challenged.

"You don't have the authority." Flurry said.

"I've got the only authority!" Moon Shimmer shouted, bringing her hoof down. Flurry was wrong, it was better that she hadn't shouted. There was a crowd gathering, curious ponies trying to see what was going on in the middle of the courtyard.

"Prove it." Flurry said, trying to call her bluff. Shimmer's eyes narrowed and she scanned the crowd. She found what she was looking for and walked over to an armor clad Unicorn colt. She stood there talking to him for a minute then walked back over to Snow Flurry, the Unicorn colt following her. The Colt stopped a few inches in front of Flurry and shoved a piece of paper at his chest.

"Be here tomorrow at noon. Don't be late and don't forget that paper." The Unicorn said. He walked away leaving Snow Flurry stunned beyond words. Flurry stared at his sister then looked down at the paper. It had an address and a list of things to bring and not to bring. He looked back up at his sister and was surprised to see disappointment. She shook her head, turned on her hoofs and walked away. Flurry was too stunned to follow her.

"What gives her the right to do that?" Demanded a voice next to Flurry. He looked over and saw that Crystal Heart had walked up silently. "She shouldn't have done that."

"She's got every right, Crystal." Flurry responded, annoyed that she would even ask that. "I stepped out of line and all she's doing is setting me right."

Now that he said it, he felt that he was right. Moon Shimmer was always looking out for him, always getting him out of trouble. The least he could do was try for her.


End file.
